


champagne problems .

by thelastflightshome



Category: Hart of Dixie
Genre: F/M, au where they grew up together, based off champagne problems by taylor swift, not proof-read or beta'd but i needed to get it out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:41:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28061841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelastflightshome/pseuds/thelastflightshome
Summary: “I love you.” He breathes, breaking her spiel with a kiss.“I love you, too, Cowboy.” Zoe smiles up at him. He rests his forehead against hers.“Then marry me.”
Relationships: Zoe Hart/Wade Kinsella
Comments: 5
Kudos: 10





	champagne problems .

**Author's Note:**

> based off "champagne problems" by taylor swift. some things have been edited to fit the context of the fic.

_ You booked the night train for a reason _

_ So you could sit there in this hurt _

_ Bustling crowds or silent sleepers _

_ You're not sure which is worse _

Wade’s eyes are burning as they stay focused on the road. It’s over a seventeen hour ride. If he made good time, he’d be back in Bluebell by mid-morning. He’s surrounded by cars, bumper to bumper traffic. Everyone is honking and yelling and he’s just trying to get  _ home _ . He’s only been here a handful of times, and it’s been fine. But now he hates it. He has a hot, burning loathe for the Northern state. He’s white-knuckling the steering wheel, holding it so tight that he wonders if he could just rip it off. 

He was going home and he was going alone. 

It wasn’t the plan. The plan was to pick up Zoe, to take her home for the holidays. 

But she was staying in stupid Manhattan.

She chose the city over him. 

_

  
  


_ Because I dropped your hand while dancing _

_ Left you out there standing _

_ Crestfallen on the landing _

_ Champagne problems _

_ Your mom's ring in your pocket _

_ My picture in your wallet _

_ Your heart was glass, I dropped it _

_ Champagne problems. _

It was something like out of a movie. Lemon helped him plan it all out - but it was a lot of his ideas, and some of her suggestions. She just helped him decide on the final touches. The champagne, the spot where he’d do it. She listened to his speech, awe’d when appropriate. 

It was the right time, Wade was sure of it. He’d been dating Zoe since he was sixteen, when she finally made the move from Manhattan to Bluebell. He’d known her since they were younger than that, since before they hit double digits. She’d always been the one for him, even if it took him a little while to realize it. 

She was graduating from Johns Hopkins in May, going to Columbia University School of Medicine (or  _ Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons _ , she drilled into his head, as she told him excitedly over the phone she got accepted). On winter break, she had only come into Manhattan to visit her mom for a few days. 

She’d be spending Christmas in Bluebell, of course. 

He has his momma’s ring in his pocket, Zoe’s hand holding tight onto his. They go to central park, and despite the fact it’s snowing, he suggests a picnic. They drink sweet champagne straight out of the bottle, ( _ “Champagne? What for?” “To celebrate! Baby, it’s been too long since I’ve seen you.” _ ), she fills him in on all the blanks she’s missed during their long-distance phone calls. 

“I wish you could stay. I think you’d really like it here.” She whispers, her head resting on his shoulder. He’s looking at the stars - or lack of. It was just tall buildings and pollution up here. 

“I could never last in this place.” Wade insists before he pauses. “Well, actually. I could. With you by my side, I’d be just fine.” He decides, resting his head against hers. 

“See, it wouldn’t be that bad!” Zoe laughs. “I can’t wait to go home for Christmas. To see my dad, and AB, and…” She lists off the names of who she missed in town, which might be everybody. But he listens, because he’d listen to her forever. He’d cross the oceans, crawl to the ends of the earth. He loved her. He couldn’t imagine a life without her. 

“I love you.” He breathes, breaking her spiel with a kiss. 

“I love you, too, Cowboy.” Zoe smiles up at him. He rests his forehead against hers. 

“Then marry me.” 

_

  
  


_ You told your family for a reason _

_ You couldn't keep it in _

_ Your sister splashed out on the bottle _

_ Now no one's celebrating _

Lemon throws back a drink, too angry to come up with words. It’s too early to drink, but hey, she needs one. And Wade does, too. So she pours her best friend a glass. 

“She’s gonna regret that. Saying ‘no’ to you? Who does she think she is?” Lemon scoffs. Beside her, Wade rests his head in his hands. 

He’s looking down at the picture he dug out of his wallet. It’s a photobooth strip of him and Zoe, from when they were teenagers. Their silly faces, small kisses, and then super serious pose. It’s been in his wallet for so long, always carrying a piece of them with him. 

He drinks the whiskey Lemon had poured for him, the booze warming his bones. And then he rips the photostrip in two. Then four. Then six. And then they’re just crumpled little pieces of paper. No tape could put them back together.

_

  
  


_ Dom Pérignon, you brought it _

_ No crowd of friends applauded _

_ Your hometown skeptics called it _

_ Champagne problems _

_ You had a speech, you're speechless _

_ Love slipped beyond your reaches _

_ And I couldn't give a reason _

_ Champagne problems _

AB knocks at his door. It’s been three days since he’s been home and the whole town is treating him like a kicked puppy. His fridge is stocked with break-up pies, Agnes’ Sweet Tea, and takeout and his shelves are lined with liquor, beer. He doesn’t have to go grocery shopping for a while now. 

“Hi.” He opens the door, AnnaBeth staying put on the porch. She’s holding a chocolate bundt cake in her arms. 

“Brought you some cake. I know you’re probably tired of break-up pie.” She smiles. AnnaBeth had always been like this. When his mother died, when they were kids, she used to bring him cake and left over casserole, just ‘cause she knew that he probably wasn’t eating good. 

“I’m never going to eat sweets again.” Wade complains, but he takes the cake regardless. He nods his head to the side as he turns around, inviting her in. AB walks in, her heels clicking on the hardwood floor as she avoids dirty laundry. 

“Drink?” Wade offers a beer as he sticks her cake in the fridge. AB shakes her head, but he grabs one for himself. 

“I’m sorry, Wade. I was really rooting for you guys.” AnnaBeth says as she takes a seat on the couch. It had always been messy in Wade’s home, but right now it just looked awful. Like a hurricane had come through twice, then an earthquake hit. 

“Did you know she was going to say no?” Wade asks, the idea popping into his head. “You know her just like I do, AB. Did you know?” 

AnnaBeth doesn’t say a word, which feels like a confirmation. 

Wade feels it again, remembering how Zoe had laughed and said “What? Are you drunk?” As he asked her again, serious as ever, to marry him. 

“No ma’am. I want to marry you, Zoe, I wanna spend the rest of my life with you.” 

He feels her hand drop from his as she shifts backwards, putting space between the two of them. 

“Wade, I can’t. I can’t marry you.” 

_ 

  
  


_ Your Midas touch on the Chevy door _

_ November flush and your flannel cure _

_ "This dorm was once a madhouse" _

_ I made a joke, "Well, it's made for me" _

Her first semester of college is the first time since they started dating that they’ve been apart for so long. He makes the drive up in his Chevy Camaro to New England. After debating with Harley for two weeks, Wade making some solid arguments, he would be the one to pick her up for her fall break. It’s freezing in Maryland, at Johns Hopkins, but it’s worth it. 

She runs into his arms as soon as she spots him, right outside the dormitory. He holds her tight and picks her up, just breathing her in. 

“Goddamn, Zoe. If I went more week without you, I think I was gonna die.” Wade expresses, dramatic as every Bluebell-ian. It’s sort of a relief to hear. The only dramatics she’s heard lately are from her roommates. 

She takes him on a tour of the dormitory, tucked into his side and pressed against his warm red flannel. 

“You know, this place kinda looks like a mental asylum. Like outta one of those horror movies.” He says, unimpressed with the buildings.

“Perfect for me, then.” Zoe jokes. They both laugh. 

  
  


_ 

  
  


_ How evergreen, our group of friends _

_ Don't think we'll say that word again _

_ And soon they'll have the nerve to deck the halls _

_ That we once walked through _

It’s the first Christmas in years that Wade isn’t spending the day at the Wilkes house. The first time he won’t be exchanging gifts with Harley and Zoe. He’s not spending the day sneaking kisses under the mistletoe with her, chasing her little cousins around the yard, laughing until he can’t breathe. It doesn’t feel right, spending the day alone. 

So he goes to see his dad. 

Part of him wishes he ended up staying home alone instead.

_

  
  


_ One for the money, two for the show _

_ I never was ready so I watch you go _

_ Sometimes you just don't know the answer _

_ 'Til someone's on their knees and asks you _

_ "She would've made such a lovely bride _

_ What a shame she's fucked in the head," they said _

Zoe never expected to reject a marriage proposal. But then again, she never thought that Wade was going to ask her to marry him. Part of her thought they’d get there  _ someday,  _ after medical school and after he opens up his own bar. But not now, not at twenty-two. 

It stings. She feels like the worst person in the world, saying no to him. 

But she can’t lie and say yes, she wanted to marry him. Because right now? She didn’t want to. She wasn’t ready, she still had so many plans to fulfill. There wasn’t enough room to fit in a wedding right now. 

She spends Christmas in New York with her mom. She goes back to college early the next week and spends New Years Eve alone. 

She tries to fall asleep before the ball drops and the new year rings in.

_

  
  


_ But you'll find the real thing instead _

_ She'll patch up your tapestry that I shred. _

_ And hold your hand while dancing _

_ Never leave you standing _

_ Crestfallen on the landing _

_ With champagne problems _

Zoe’s cousin Vivian is not who Wade actively seeks out to date. She was around the same age as him and Zoe, so they would hang out. He liked her, but he never even thought about dating her. 

It just sort of happens. He fights with himself about it for a short while, thinking that this was  **wrong** , this was all sorts of messed up. He wanted to marry Zoe, he wanted to spend his life with her. 

Or at least he thought that. 

But over six months later Vivian’s curled up on the couch with him, watching Don Todd golf in the desert. She’s laughing, her sock brushing against his knee as he stretches out his leg. 

“He’s wild! I can’t believe he did that!” Vivian gasps, shaking her head. 

“Yeah.” Wade can’t help the smile. “Don Todd’s really something.” 

Late that night, after dinner and dessert, when they’re in bed and it’s just the two of them against the world, Vivian kisses his cheek. 

“You know, I’ve always liked you, Wade Kinsella.” 

  
  


_

  
  


_ Your mom's ring in your pocket _

_ Her picture in your wallet _

_ You won't remember all my _

_ Champagne problems _

The second marriage proposal Wade ever made in his life goes much smoother than the first. Vivian cries as she says yes, attacking him with kisses and enveloping him in her love. 

They’re building a life together, planning a wedding, and planning to buy a house. They’re going to settle down, set roots down. It’s not the life he once imagined for himself, but it’s the one he’s content with. He’s happy with Vivian, and he’s excited to make her his wife. 

_

_ You won't remember all my _

_ Champagne problems _

He’s supposed to be excited for his wedding. Everyone else is excited,  _ overjoyed _ . And yet there’s something gnawing at the pit of his stomach, something that’s whispering in his ear  **don’t do it** . 

He chalks it up to nerves and takes a shot. Hopefully the reverend doesn’t notice the alcohol on his breath. 

The ceremony starts and it’s all a blur, but it comes to a stop as Reverend Mayfair says the token words “speak now or forever hold your peace”, pausing for dramatics. Right as he goes to continue speaking, a figure stands up with shaking hands and a sheepish look on her face. 

“Zoe?” Wade nearly whispers, unsure if he actually said her name or if he just thought it. 

“I-I’m sorry for interrupting, but...Wade, we really need to talk. Please.” 

  
  



End file.
